Polish Jews

In today's issue of the leading Warsaw newspaper "Gazeta Wyborcza" (15
April 2008) there is a lot of photographs from the ceremonies commemorating
the 65th Anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, led by the Presidents,
Lech Kaczynski and Shimon Peres, where this flag is prominently displayed
and it is mentioned as the still unofficial,but growing in popularity,
flag of the Polish Jewry.
The other flags pictured there are the multitudes of the Israeli flags
and some Polish and Warsaw
flags.
The flag is in Polish national colors, countercharged shield of David
on the white and red fields.
It is a flag of the "Forum Zydow Polskich" (Forum of Polish
Jews), an organization of young Polish Jews concerned with the
revival of social and cultural Jewish life in Poland. It is
above any political or religious divides and aims to enhance the pride
of being Jewish in modern Poland to the levels of its pre-war vitality
and beyond.
Good review of over 1,000 years of the Jewish history in Poland is
presented on wikipedia
in English and several other languages.
Chrystian Kretowicz, 16 Apr 2008

Lublin Jewish flag

image by Chrystian Kretowicz, 3 Jul 2008

While researching the symbols of the city of Lublin
(Poland), known in the past as "Jewish Oxford", I came across the intriguing
flag, which I couldn't locate in any context of Lublin's web pages.
Full size image can be found here:
by clicking on the 15th position of the list of results (wyniki wyszukiwania)
- "flaga", just above an entry for "Rishon le Zion (Izrael)".
Chrystian Kretowicz, 3 Jul 2008

This is a new flag that came to replace the original flag of Chachmei
Lublin Yeshiva.
The inscriptions are:
On the scroll - "Chachmei Lublin Yeshiva".
Inside the Magen David is the year (5)767 (which is 2007).
Up on the scrolls the Hebrew letters "Kaf" and "Tav" (probably for
"Keter Torah" - Torah Crown).
On the hand above - Zevulun (tone of the tribes).
On the hands below - Isaskhar (one of the tribes).

On the Yeshiva itself you can read here.
On its monumental building (Which I visited during my visit in Poland)
you can read this.
The original flag can be seen here
(click to enlarge) with the explanation:
"The banner of the yeshiva (Photo: author unknown, reprint from: Hilel
Seidman Szlakiem nauki talmudycznej... [The Trail of Talmudic Teachings...
Warszawa 1934)"

The original flag bears the year (5)690 which stand for 1930 -
the year of the Yeshiva's foundation while the new flag bears the date
of its reopening (11 Feb. 2007)
Dov Gutterman, 4 Jul 2008